Usually, it's to play sound defense, but Tuesday he made 5 3-pointers

Keith Bogans has heard the criticism, read about his detractors who feel the Bulls must upgrade the quality at shooting guard.

"It doesn't frustrate me at all, … I'm being talked about," Bogans said with a smile after he scored a season-high 17 points in nearly 29 minutes Tuesday night during the Bulls' 98-79 victory over the Wizards.

"I've been around long enough (seven-year veteran). You know, people are going to say things. But I am here for my team; I want to win. I'm not worried about individual stuff. I've had individual things and my goal is to win a championship."

Wizards coach Flip Saunders said his team's defensive philosophy was to clog up the middle and force the Bulls to beat them from outside.

"Seems like they were packing the middle in and just giving us jump shots," said Bogans, who hit 5 of 10 3-pointers. "I just took what they gave us."

Bogans insists he has been immune to the public criticism about his scoring average that was 3.9 before Tuesday's performance

"My job on this team is to defend first," he said. "I think people get caught up in (saying) I am a shooting guard, and I am not shooting the ball. But when you have Derrick (Rose), Luol (Deng) and Carlos (Boozer) taking the bulk of the shots … I mean, I'm just going to get us going defensively. When my shot is there I will take it. I know my role on this team."

Bogans also contributed five rebounds, three assists and two steals. But it was his long-range shooting that caught everyone's attention.

"I got more looks, I played more minutes and my teammates did a good job of finding me when we executed our offense," Bogans said. "I just took my shot when it was there. I didn't do anything differently than I normally do. I just played a little bit more and got more looks."

Bogans' contributions were not lost on Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau.

"I thought he played great; he gave us a big lift," he said. "His defense was terrific, he shot well, he gave us toughness, got to loose balls."